robbed Peter to pay Paul

Verb

rob Peter to pay Paul (third-person singular simple present robs Peter to pay Paul, present participle robbing Peter to pay Paul, simple past and past participle robbed Peter to pay Paul)

1. (idiomatic) To use resources that legitimately belong to or are needed by one party in order to satisfy a legitimate need of another party, especially within the same organization or group; to solve a problem in a way that makes another problem worse, producing no net gain.
   • [I]t would be robbing Peter to pay Paul, for the government to pay a stamp-duty to itself.1838, Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, volume 17, number 98, London, page 224